1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nonreusable endoscope stopper which is attached to an opening portion of a channel of an endoscope, and an endoscope with a stopper.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, in the medical field, by inserting an insertion portion of an endoscope into the body of a patient, not only observation inside the body, but also various treatments with respect to the subject observation portion inside the human body have been performed. Specifically, various treatments such as resection and extraction of a subject observation portion have been performed in a manner such that various treatment tools such as forceps or an incision tool are inserted through a forceps channel inside an insertion portion from a forceps opening ferrule provided in an operating portion of an endoscope and protrude from the front end of the insertion portion.
The forceps opening ferrule is equipped with a forceps stopper through which a treatment tool is inserted when performing a treatment (see JP1991-042275A (JP-H3-042275A) and JP1990-283345A (JP-H2-283345A)). The forceps stopper prevents body fluid, waste, air, and the like inside a body from flowing backward inside the forceps channel due to a change in the internal pressure of the body, and from leaking to the outside from the forceps opening ferrule. Since body fluid or the like adheres to the forceps stopper when the forceps stopper is used, a disposable forceps stopper is generally used so as to be replaced with new one after the every use thereof from the viewpoint of preventing infection.
JP2008-043774A discloses a forceps stopper which is detachable from a forceps ferrule by breaking a part of a stopper. Further, JP2006-055446A discloses a forceps stopper that has a stopper body and an engagement portion engaging with a forceps opening ferrule, wherein a notch is formed therebetween. The forceps stopper cannot be used anymore since a portion between the stopper body and the engagement portion is broken when the stopper body is pulled. In the forceps stopper disclosed in JP2008-043774A and JP2006-055446A, the forceps stopper cannot be reused since the forceps stopper is broken when it is detached from the forceps opening ferrule. As a result, it is possible to prevent the used forceps stopper from being reused accidentally.